Thursday, April 4, 2013

the "aha" in child development





Max Thorin Walker, At 3 Months

in our arms
Max feels solid, sure, and stretches himself with careful abandon,
as he begins to come fully into his physical self,
no longer quite so soft as two months ago,
then often ready to curl up as if to be back in the womb,
now he lengthens and increasingly moves his body to suit his whims:
his hands and arms, his feet and legs, open and close, initiate and withdraw,
move to express who and how he is as an entity opening himself to the world,
and venturing action upon action to see how it goes,
though much seems random and exploratory,
he moves the way a dancer moves after years of study,
with each part of the body a tool with which to express,



how a randomized intuition, plus stimulus and effect,
produce such actions is a wonder in itself,
his eyes, like his hands, move as seems right
in the eternity that every moment is for him,

when I have him in my arms,
my heart holds me enough that I know
to change my rhythms to fit his, 
to follow his lead,
so I meet his eye with mine,
his smile with mine,
his laugh with more and more of my own,






we dance together in a connection
that works for him and overwhelms me
with just how wonderfully joyous Max can be,
and with how honored I am that how I am with him 
helps him to be there with me enough
to smile, to laugh, 
and then to know how and when it’s time to move on,

for us, opportunity meets preparation,
as our three months old grandson pulls himself up to new plateaus
where he feels sure enough to break free
into noticing, then approving, than laughing,
and when it is one of us whose eyes he meets
and who then gets a smile, a laugh,
smiles and laughs cascade back onto him
and for long moments nothing else matters,





as eyes meet and happy approval bubbles out of both of us,
a piece of rainbow or the wall, or even just a patch of the ceiling,
also can get a smile and a laugh,
and Max’s default position seems often to be joy in just being,

as I have him cradled in my lap,
like this writing pad is now,
his body held by my crossed left leg,
his head on my knee,
I watch him to learn from his attention
more of what’s going on inside him,
his eyes focus first on one hand, then on the other,
he makes the connection that there is a connection
between what he sees and what he feels,
his left hand just days before found its way to his mouth
for the thumb to be sucked,
and he sucks his thumb now easily and readily,
and he seems now to discover
that he can be conscious and decide what to do with his hands,

moments later he discovers his feet,
I watch him think and move,
I hold each foot, move it around in front of his eyes a few times,
then I hold my palms up, facing his feet, and just in reach,
he methodically presses foot onto hand, withdraws, repeats,

the next day I watch him closely again, and he remembers,
concentrates, works at getting how impulse leads to action,
and he begins to get that some of the world might be in his control,

inductively, he discovers,
and I watch him learn and apply each lesson,
he works hard, every muscle, every neuron firing,
it’s like he runs a marathon between every nap,
or maybe it’s like he goes 100 miles per hour,
then shifts into Park, closes his eyes, and conks out,




child development can reveal itself in “aha” moments that deserve goose bumps.


by  Granddaddy, Henry H. Walker
March 31 and April 1, ’13

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